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Katashi and Akiko are sent to take down some of the Silence members threatening a local village in the Land of Wind and, if possible, bring the leader back alive.

"The Silence - Getting Information the Hard Way"

Outside Sunagakure

Reports of a town being terrorized by members of the Silence started to come in the other day. The leader was formerly of Sunagakure, apparently, and a relatively strong member of it at that. The men associated with him were relatively weak, though, which meant perfect genin fodder. Messenger Hawks were, as per usual, sent out to summon those available and on active duty. This didn't leave that many choices, but at least it's something when Akiko and Katashi reply with a 'yes, we can go.' The duo was to meet up about a half-mile from the village.

Akiko gets to the assigned meeting place, already having most of her chakra stored up so that she can go into battle as soon as possible with the quickest reaction time she can muster. Kotone flies overhead, staying far up from the village. Enough to scout, but not enough to be shot down. The town that was being terrorized was almost empty, everyone hiding in their homes. Occasionally, the goons could be seen moving from one store to the next as they looted the village.

Having been pulled in for another battle, even after dealing with large turtles, Katashi was ready to go. Having recovered surprisingly quickly from the previous conflict Katashi was in that steady, ground eating pace that got him to the meet point with Akiko. He didn't even seem tired. Indeed, from when Akiko last saw him and how banged up he had been, there wasn't even a scratch to him now. Katashi nodded to Akiko, then swept the village with a look. ~Oh great. We're dealing with your girlfriend. AGAIN. What's up with that??~ 'Shut up. What's wrong with that village?' ~Uh.. they're not running in abject terror from my approach?~ '… you're useless.' "Shall we go show them why to not mess with Suna's villages?" Katashi looked to Akiko with a flashed smile as he'd start into that jog towards the village again.

Akiko waves to Katashi when she notices him approach. "Yep! Ready when you are, Katashi-san!" She jogs along after him, giving him the brief report of what she and Kotone had noticed. "Other than the Silence looting some of the stores, everything's quiet. I think that's pretty noticeable. The other thing is there's a really tall guy in the middle of town. I think he's the leader. And the number of people there isn't more than three, from what we've seen. The people there're just fast."

In the village, the duo would eventually hear shouting from the man in the middle of town. He was, like Akiko had said, very tall with a height of six feet. He seemed pretty fit, too, the muscles in his body fairly prominent. Around his right bicep was a hitai-ate with the symbol of Sunagakure, though crossed out to show he was no longer affiliated with the Hidden Village. "Move faster, men. We have shinobi on our tail!" To himself, he grumbled about how he knew they should have been like a lightning strike. There one second and gone the next. But the two idiots he commanded wanted to get /all/ the goods… Making a handseal, he would send a gust of wind towards both Akiko and Katashi to try and slow them up a bit.

Akiko found herself getting blown away! The powerful wind was extremely unexpected, as well as powerful. It essentially stops her in her tracks. Fortunately, Kotone is still up above and positioned to attack. Which the falcon does, coming down in a swooping motion towards the head honcho, the falcon aiming to just distract him.

Katashi was jogging and as he'd see the leader and confirm Akiko's report, he nodded to her in agreement. When the guy made hand seals, he accelerated suddenly, a burst of speed that had him vanish out of that path which stopped Akiko, leaping to the edge of a building and launching off of it. "Akiko-san, take down the other guys." Coming in at that leader, he'd lead with that chakra fueled kick, landing, kicking up dirt as he'd spin back around, the impact sending up that shockwave to potentially unbalance the guy as Katashi followed up with his own fist to smash the guy to the ground.

The leader of the Silence Team just swipes at Kotone, though it does make him distracted enough to halt his windy assault on Akiko. She'll find it much easier to move forward now. Kotone flaps away before she gets smacked upside the head, leaving Katashi to deal with the leader. He blocks the first strike with his hand, but, being a tad out of practice, he became very off-balance at Katashi's shockwave sent through the ground. With that, he's unable to stop the fist, but he doesn't fall to his feet. Rather, he goes to his knees and attempts to grab Katashi around the legs, pushing off to give the Makino a good headbutt to the stomach.

Akiko finally gets to the village a bit behind Katashi. She has her bow all ready, arrows nocked. Of the two goons looting the stores, only one is seen by her. She looses three arrows in rapid succession at him before he even notices her existence, aiming for the throat and heart. "Kotone!" she calls out, her voice somehow conveying that the Hayato wants her falcon to go up high for a dive-bomb later despite the entire sentence just being one word…

Katashi planted his feet, foot slamming into the ground and he wasn't able to be budged. As the man gave up and shifted for that headbutt, Katashi shifted away, moving with him. "Surrender." ~Or die. I don't care.~ 'shut up.' Katashi would suddenly flip forward into a double legged flip kick, seeking to catch the guy in the chin with that first foot, the second planting off his foot, finishing Katshi's kick as it'd also send the guy flying backwards. Letting Katashi land into a neat crouch, he wasn't going to give this guy any chance to get a breath.. unless he did surrender.

The one facing off against Akiko felt a bit of a tingling sensation, something telling him to duck! He does so, and the arrow meant for his throat misses completely. However, he does end up with an arrow through his shoulder, which is painful. Ignoring that pain, though, he draws the sword at his side and, with a burst of speed, attacks Akiko with a frenzy of sword slashings. He notices that it's a mere girl he's facing, which boosts his confidence immensely. He doesn't even bother to call for help.

The Leader finds his head is snapped back by the kick, though he has enough sense to turn block the attack just enough for it not to kill him. The man whipped up a weak barrier of wind between the two that crumbled upon the first hit, the kick hitting him right in the stomach. With a faint growl, the leader makes another seal and uses the wind again, sending sickle-shaped wind towards Katashi.

Akiko is quick to try and avoid the sword slashes, but she's not completely successful. The blade catches her in the arm, drawing her blood with a faint hiss escaping her. How unlucky can she get? Enough that she ends up with two cuts. Drawing back to put some distance between herself and the goon, she uses a flash-bang arrow in an attempt to stun the man. Then follows up with a heavier arrow for more damage.

Katashi would move away, but how do you out run the wind?? Getting clipped, Katashi would stumble, dropping to a knee. ~Wow you suck.~ 'It's wind!!' ~so?? Lookit. Take some power. Show this guy what a kickass is.~ '… no trick? you're not trying to escape?' ~no.. I want to see you drop this guy to the dirt.~ Katashi slowly stood to his feet, his body mending from the shot of air as if it had never touched him. Eyes settled on the leader, that chakra gathering and suddenly surging about him, condensing into a powerful field as Katashi settled into his ready stance. "Last time. Surrender." ~Or die.~ 'we need information.' ~…~

Apparently blocking an explosive arrow is a bad idea. The goon Akiko is fighting is immediately blinded by the flash bang, making further attempts to block her arrows pointless. The heavier arrows dig into him. While not hitting any vitals, he took a lot of damage to his shoulder and leg. It makes him slower and less powerful than before. He doesn't seem to know his limits, either. With a grunt, he attempts to attack Akiko again, only to stumble and fall down panting. Why was this girl stronger than him?? With a frustrated growl, he manages to call out, "Hey! I need assistance, here!"

With that call, the other goon appears out of a nearby store. He had heard the commotion of the fight, of course, and wanted to stay out of it as long as possible. Maybe even live another day. Sadly, that wasn't to be the case… "Fine, fine…" he grumbles, unsheathing his own sword that immediately burst into flames. It seemed he was using chakra to power up the blade a bit more… With a yell, he attempts to attack Akiko, slashing at her legs.

The leader of the gang watches Katashi and that chakra cloak as it forms, his eyes narrowing slightly. He makes a seal with his hands, clones made of wind appearing around him and charging at Katashi in an attempt to take him down quickly. "Need help over there… Pfft… They oughta come and help me…" he grumbles, knowing full well that his goons would skedaddle if they had to face a Bijuu host.

Akiko is able to avoid all three slashes of the sword from the second goon that appears. Two arrows make their way to the enemies, exploding in a bright flash. Then she sends a final arrow, this one again heavier that a normal one. The more damage, the better, is what she figured.

And the clones decended on Katashi, pummeling him. He gritted his teeth, grinding them together as the chakra wavered about him. "That.. is.. enough!!" He'd burst outward, the clones shattered as he'd launch full tilt at the boss then, coming in with a massive punch for the guy's jaw, following in right behind it with a spinning move to kick at the back of his knee. "I.. warned.. you.. to.. surrender.." 'The power.. Where.. how.. what is this power???' ~HAHAHAHAHA.. This.. This power? This is ME!!!~ Katashi growled low in his throat, he was keeping control, but for how long would be the question.

The first Silence member was knew parrying was a bad idea now, so he smartly jumped off to the side. Sadly for him, his thought process was running too slow, and his eyes were affected by the flash-bang again. Unable to see, he was an easy target for Akiko's second arrow to pierce, this one going through his throat and killing him. The other Silence member had the wits to close his eyes, dodging the flash-bang arrow with ease as he faced Akiko off again. Gripping his sword, he attempts to make the flames even larger as he attacks her with several more sword-slashes. The bandit leader finds himself victim to several far more powerful punches from Katashi as well as a kick. It hurts, the blocking wind only working for so long before he's pushed back. It leaves him open for attack for a brief moment.

Akiko moves quickly against her own opponent, the flaming blade only touching her once. The girl works in combination with her falcon, one attacking from above while the other attacks from below. Kotone drops several explosive seals onto the man while Akiko uses her bow. It's a combination that they've only just started using, so the execution has to be perfected. But better to test it in real combat than keep it unused!

Panting, the chakra swirling about him as the guy got staggered, Katashi switched tactics. That genjutsu movement was simple, it didn't take much and the sudden need to kneel by the leader was pounding into him, forcing him down to his knees. Katashi immediately surged forward, pouring that chakra into his leg as he'd flip up into a moon axe kick, coming down on the back of the guy's head, to plant him into the ground and potentially knock him out. 'he can't die. He's strong. We need info.' ~… you take all the fun out of it!~

The combination of arrows and explosive tags from above (which was extremely unexpected) is enough to … well, he's dead now. Akiko lets out a relieved sigh, and Kotone comes down to land beside the Hayato. Well, that's those two guys down, and they're not coming up. She looks over to see the end of Katashi's battle, which was going well for the Jinchuuriki.

Because the Leader was already unfocused from the last attack, it was easy for Katashi's genjutsu to take effect. The man falls to his knees, staring at the ground as he attempts to rush his chakra through his body. It doesn't work, much to his dismay, and the man ends up getting knocked out by the powerful hit Katashi got in. Three down, none to go. Mission success.

After Katashi had calmed down, the duo took the unconscious man back to Sunagakure for questioning. The townsfolk thanked the Sunanin for their assistance, offering up most of the loot the bandits were about to take. (They didn't accept it…)